DFH-Stipendiatin Lisanne Teil 3

Dritter Monat - Bye-bye Heimweh & die beste Gastfamilie der Welt

Already 3 month now! I can't believe it's only 7 more. It is funny how much one month changes, and I am really happy about writing a monthly journal because not only can I share my experiences but also I can look back and see how much I have developed, how much life here has developed.

The homesickness is gone, when I remember right, I wasn't homesick at all this month. Sure, I miss my family and my friends and just little things from Germany, but I really enjoy my time right here and now.

One reason for this absolutely is my wonderful host family! I am so happy that I have been given this great gift to stay with them! They take care of me so sincere so that I can feel home. We have done a lot of activities, which gave me the opportunity to get to know more of Canadas wonderful places. In the beginning of November, on a pretty warm and sunny day, after visiting our Opas house, we went to see the Niagara Falls. It was full of tourists, everyone taking pictures infront of the Falls ( me included :D), and let's be honest: The Canadian side is so much pettier then the American one! And I would love to go there again.

I was stunned by the overwhelming beauty of this light blue water never stopping to flow. I felt like I could just sit there for hours and only watch. Watch these tonnes of water crashing down, showing their majestically power.

Couple days later I went to Toronto, even twice. First for the birthday of my host brother with him and his dad, where we went shopping in the Eaton Centre and afterwards on the CN tower for having lunch in the restaurant on top of it. It was really amazing, seeing the big high-rise buildings from above, suddenly looking so small...

And the Ontario Lake which is so big, that it appears to be an Ocean, because you can only see one little city at the horizon: Hamilton. And all the rest is water, water and more water.

The second time I went to Toronto was with my international Class to see Chinatown, Kensington Market and the City Hall. It was a very fun day, although it was freezing cold!

Toronto is very different from all the Canadian places I have seen so far, it is stuffed with high buildings and traffic, everything is squished together, which gave me a metropolis feeling, but even way more than Berlin. It was a nice experience, but I didn't really feel like being in Canada, because usually everything is so sprawled.

Also with our church we do a lot of cool activities as the youth group from the Kitchener/Waterloo area like laser questing, or meeting people from all over Canada to have a service with them or having birthday celebrations. It is really nice to see all these people once in a while and to get to know them better.

In school I am getting more involved in activities like the Spirit Leader Club, where we plan events to make school more fun ( what we should absolutely also do in German schools!)

This helps me to meet new people and to get more integrated. Next week we will have a dance for schools of our city, which will be the first real dance I'll go to, that's why I am really excited for it!

Christmas is coming closer and we already had about 20 cm snow! But for now, it is all melted and it is pretty warm, which on the one hand makes me happy but on the other hand I am ready for winter! All the houses are decorated and everywhere you go there's Christmas music all around you! I am very excited for Christmas and to experience the typical Canadian celebration!

I am happy for having 7 more month to live here and I am hoping for a great time with a lot of new experiences!